A COUNTRY ESCAPE
Eight miles from the bright lights of Blackpool, Ribby Hall offers an oasis of calm
ONE of our ducks is missing,’ shrilled five-year-old Lily as she peered anxiously out of the cottage window. ‘Oh no! I suspect fowl play,’ I replied. Yes, OK, it’s an old joke, but surely I could be excused. After all, we were only eight miles from Blackpool’s Golden Mile. And what’s a weekend break in the shadow of the famous tower if you can’t indulge in a spot of kiss-me-quick comedy? But, yes, one of our six feathered friends had gone Awol from its regular haunt outside our cottage at Ribby Hall holiday resort in Wrea Green, a tiny village nestling in the beautiful Lancashire countryside.
Our home for the weekend bordered one of Ribby’s picturesque fishing lakes and the ducks were regular visitors – especially around the children’s mealtimes.
Our drive from Glasgow was pretty effortless (thank goodness for iPads and DVDs) and we found ourselves at Ribby within three hours after a quick stop en route.
For many Scots, Blackpool has long been a special destination. Its world-famous attractions have been a mainstay of family weekends away – and a must-visit for traditional stag and hen dos.
But Ribby Hall is a different pace altogether and it’s easy to see why families return time and again to this oasis of calm nestling in an idyllic rural spot.
We stayed in one of the spacious Sapphire cottages, a detached, single-storey self-catering home set around the quaintly named Fisherman’s Reach lake.
The cottage has everything you need, including a comfortable lounge with TV and DVD player – and plenty of outside garden space for the children to play.
Walking around the resort, I couldn’t help but make the comparison between Ribby Hall and Center Parcs. I think Ribby edges it. The pace is less frenetic and it is certainly kinder on the wallet.
It was a short stroll from our cottage to Ribby’s many facilities, which include a huge indoor pool with slides, a soft play area, adventure playground, tennis courts and boating lake. There’s also an equestrian centre and a host of sports including badminton, mini-golf and cycling.
Biggest hit for our eight-yearold Cameron was the synthetic football pitch, which at quiet times can be hired for £10-anhour if you just fancy a family kickabout (as he often did).
Ribby has a daily programme of events for children of all ages, and the little ones can be as busy – or quiet – as you want them to be. Lily even took part in a Frozen Workshop which was visited by the real Anna and Elsa (or so she assured me).
Ribby’s three restaurants cater for all tastes and budgets and we tried them all. The top-end The Restaurant offers a first-class menu, but our favourite was the Tapas Bar, which served excellent Spanish dishes in a small restaurant with a great atmosphere.
The Bar and Grill is a bit more burger ’n’ chips, and is inevitably where many families migrate to – particularly in the evenings as it is where the entertainment takes place. Now I find resort enter- tainment somewhat hit or miss, but for the children this was The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent rolled into one; a sort of Hi-de-Hi! on steroids.
Musicians, magicians, dancers and a cheeky chappie performing under the name Rob B Williams – who certainly let himself entertain us as he gyrated and posed Take That-style between tables.
But a weekend away shouldn’t all be about the children. My wife enjoyed the fantastic facilities at the adults-only Spa Hotel.
The spa boasts a wide variety of treatments from facials to full body massages and something called the Rasul Mud Chamber, which sounds like a scene from a Harry Potter movie set.
Ribby Hall is equipped with everything from its own supermarket to a quaint English tea room. But if you want to venture further afield, Blackpool is only eight miles down the road with its 12-mile promenade, funfair rides and sandy beaches. I’d be tempted to plump for the more tranquil town of Lytham St Annes and its quaint streets, boutique shops and fantastic beaches.
But, if you are just keen to relax in a resort where the entire family is well catered for, it is hard to beat Ribby Hall Village.
And, oh yes, the ‘missing’ duck did eventually turn up again – strangely around the same time the first crumbs fell to the ground as we tucked into our al fresco lunch in the Ribby sunshine.